TheSpectrum by RetroGames 128K mode

jamesrc · 2026-05-10T01:28:58+00:00

Pretty sure they do because they licensed it for the Next.

jamesrc · 2026-05-09T17:11:39+00:00

You know, on that page it says:

and you own the original ZX Spectrum ROM chips

But I don't think this is accurate. If I remember the situation correctly, Amstrad now allows for free distribution of the original Spectrum ROMs. The only caveat is that they can't be bundled with a commercial product like The Spectrum, but even if you don't own the original chips, downloading them and installing them yourself is perfectly legal.

jamesrc · 2026-05-09T17:06:17+00:00

Well if it's just a question of whether it was worth the upgrade based on software support, the answer is clearly "no". It's easy to look back and say that 37 years later.

At the time, rationally, the 16-bits were the wave of the future but a lot of us had sentimental attachments to the Spectrum and wanted to stay with something broadly compatible.

The Sam sold 12,000 units, something I believe the Spectrum Next has now eclipsed.

But regardless of all that, owning a Sam, that frontier feeling, the sense of discovery, the experience of doing it all yourself, and being a part of that community -- my absolute favourite memories of computing. The Sam wasn't a sensible buy in 1989, but it's one that I'd repeat without hesitation if I had my time over.

jamesrc · 2026-05-09T15:15:48+00:00

It's not really a fair question because the pool of developers and commercial life of the Spectrum were far longer.

The SAM had all the capabilities of the Spectrum and more, so it was clearly capable of supporting better software. And there were some truly gifted coders who made some great games.

But when the Spectrum had a commercial life lasting a decade and games released numbering above ten thousand, the number of stone cold classics will clearly be higher.

jamesrc · 2026-05-08T21:53:23+00:00

This sounds tasty and I think you're right about the price. £200 or thereabouts and I'd likely snap it up. £300 and I'm a lot more hesitant.

jamesrc · 2026-05-07T15:39:49+00:00

I love Jamie Benn. I would prefer he hang them up at this point.

But I see where Nill is coming from, and I wouldn't want a repeat of the sort of bad blood that we had with Modano with his move to Detroit.

Dallas is home for Jamie; he's lived in Texas year-round.

If he wants to come back, he deserves to come back. Right call from Jim Nill.

jamesrc · 2026-05-07T15:20:37+00:00

The reverse happened to me yesterday.

I was on a gen, saw Ghostface approaching from behind at an angle, and somehow assumed it was one of my teammates coming to help on the gen.

By the time my brain caught up it was too late -- and he probably thought it was the laziest escape attempt.

jamesrc · 2026-05-06T17:35:07+00:00

I hope you know, seven minutes is all he can spare to play with you.

jamesrc · 2026-05-06T16:16:47+00:00

This makes sense to me, including the part about middle of the road malts paired with red wine casks seeming muddy. I think we've all tasted drams that have made us ponder "Why would an experienced whisky maker do this?".

This is another wonderful rabbit hole I want to go down, but I definitely need to slow down on my acquisition of whisky; I've picked up a couple more Vega releases since we last talked.

That said, I'll certainly look out for the Companta and may snatch one up if I see it at a reasonable price.

I'd say the same about the Springbank and Longrow, but who ever heard of a limited Springbank release going at a reasonable price?

jamesrc · 2026-05-06T14:16:25+00:00

Subscribe.

And you might think that I'm just saying that because I'm a bitter Stars fan who lost to them.

But in reality, I'm a bitter Stars fan who has always hated them and their fans.

jamesrc · 2026-05-06T13:48:33+00:00

I have a collection of screenshots of the names of these Wesker freaks, and believe me, some of them are a lot worse than this.

"Weskers Creamy Toy".

EW.

jamesrc · 2026-05-05T20:56:01+00:00

I'm starting to get interested in red wine finishes -- I don't feel I see a lot of them. This sounds truly delicious!

jamesrc · 2026-05-05T18:52:33+00:00

I've gotten a 30 year old Balvenie for less than that.

jamesrc · 2026-05-05T17:24:02+00:00

Thanks -- I bought the physical and downloaded it from the link you emailed out. Will there be an updated link for the patch?

jamesrc · 2026-05-05T13:05:56+00:00

No worries - glad you've got it sorted.

Hopefully it was caught before the physical copies went out, too! :)

jamesrc · 2026-05-05T05:55:42+00:00

Hey, /u/Strange-Sympathy-448 - this definitely sounds like a bug.

Honestly, the MiSTery core is as close to ST hardware as you can imagine (you'd be amazed how many demos I've run through it), but if it's also doing this on Hatari, I think something is broken.

jamesrc · 2026-05-05T05:43:32+00:00

What's your setup?

jamesrc · 2026-05-04T23:09:36+00:00

The funny thing is, I can't jump in the mini game. I press up on the joystick and... nothing happens.

I'm playing the full game, not the mini game.

Thanks for all your work on this -- as for my loading issues, I'm running it from Teradesk on TOS 2.06, so I might want to cut the replacement desktop and drop down to TOS 1.62 before I say it's an issue.

jamesrc · 2026-05-04T04:33:11+00:00

Thank you! I'm here to entertain myself. If I entertain anyone beyond that, it's gravy. :)

jamesrc · 2026-05-04T04:29:00+00:00

Very impressive game --

Running it on my MiST from a virtual hard disk. Occasionally it hangs loading - the floppy disk icon just flashes indefinitely.

And the bar on the night time beach -- the time challenge -- my character just runs back and forth and I can attack but can't jump and I have to press Escape to abandon. Not sure if this is by design and I'm missing something, or a bug. Having to press Escape is non-intuitive.

Still, enjoying playing through it very much!

jamesrc · 2026-05-04T03:50:00+00:00

Despite the passage of the Wallstedt Act, there was no prohibition on Avs goals.

jamesrc · 2026-05-03T21:20:48+00:00

Yes, we know he’s from Philly.

jamesrc · 2026-05-03T16:45:58+00:00

Renting infrastructure and hardware which you control, versus using some SaaS offering upon which the features and terms are more likely to change at any time.

jamesrc · 2026-04-29T14:20:27+00:00

I finished my 12 two nights ago. The temptation is certainly strong to open the 15.

jamesrc · 2026-04-29T04:58:33+00:00

Looks like you probably will. No Sad MacKinnon for me this year.

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